Nepalese Oil Lamp with Dragon Motif

Two dragons hold up the flame, and they appear to take the assignment seriously.

This oil lamp with a dragon motif is brass, from Nepal, 20th century. In Nepal, as across the Himalaya, oil and butter lamps burn before images in Buddhist and Hindu devotion, and offering a flame is itself an act of worship. A wide bowl with a beaded, petaled rim sits atop a lobed stem. Below it, two scaled dragons arch outward with heads raised, their bodies linked to a domed base with a pierced band and a broad flange. 22 inches high.

A great deal of effort has gone into holding one small light.